Airliner Crash-Lands in Iran

 

An Iranian passenger plane skidded off the runway and crossed a fence onto an adjacent highway in the southwestern city of Mahshahr early on Monday. All 136 passengers plus the 8 crew members on board are safe. 

The Caspian Airlines plane en route from Tehran to Mahshahr overshot the runway onto the city's ring road connecting Mahshahr to Sarbandar at 7:50 a.m. local time, ISNA reported.

The passengers were immediately evacuated from the plane through main doors and overwing exits. Two passengers, one man and one woman, suffered mild injuries in their legs and were transferred to a local hospital.

The speaker for Iran Civil Aviation Organization Reza Jafarzadeh said that the cause of the hard landing is still unclear and the incident is being investigated. The airplane was expected to be removed from the highway by Monday afternoon.

The McDonnel Douglas jet, built in 1994, is fully insured by Iran Insurance Company.  

Another Iranian airliner made an emergency landing at Tehran's Mehrabad airport on Saturday. 

Iran attempted to purchase more than 300 new aircraft from Airbus and Boeing Co. to upgrade its ageing fleet after US sanctions were lifted in 2015 but Washington reimposed sanctions on Iran after the country received only 16 of its order. The deals have been suspended pending removal of the sanctions.